Whereas factually speaking, as politics itself is regarded as service to the ‘masses’ by the elected
LAHORE: Following the charge sheet presented to an Anti-terrorism Court by the Federal Investigation Agency against the self-exiled MQM leader, Altaf Hussain, on terror financing and money laundering, it has been revealed that the money was sent to the absconding party head through the charity wing of his political party, Khidmat-e- Khalq Foundation. This is not the only case where a political party’s charity wing has been used for ‘other’ purposes under the cover of philanthropy. Almost every political party in the country has its own charity foundations, which factually, without any checks and balances engage in all sorts of activities, from collecting animal hides on Eidul Azha to running political campaigns for their party. Similarly, many banned militant outfits operate claiming to provide humanitarian services completely denying any form of political engagement, however, sliding into the political realm either way is the reason most often.
Whereas factually speaking, as politics itself is regarded as service to the ‘masses’ by the elected, political parties need no charity wings and should not be allowed to have any subsidiary wing operating for such work. The government must bar the political parties from running ‘charity wings’ or organisations and strictly scrutinise the funding received and the purpose for which they are being spent.
Umar Bakhtiar
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2017.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
